Greetings world! Once again I say "Its been such a long time since my last confession......I mean since my last blog post. There have definitely been more ups and downs over the last year, but nothing in the world could have prepared me for the "down" that our family experienced this past Friday.
It was early evening when I received the call that no parent ever wants to get. The first call came in as a "Private name/Private Number" and because I have a new cell number I figured it was someone calling for the previous owner of the number. I let it go to voicemail....but none was left. It rang again a second time and again I let it go to voicemail and again no voicemail was left. It rang a 3rd time. Very persistent this person was....so I answered it not knowing that this was the start of what was to become a very rough and emotional weekend.
The lady on the other end said she was with the RCMP and that my son Brandon was involved in a drowning accident and that he had left by ambulance 10 minutes ago. That's what I heard. My heart sank...tears streamed down my face. I thought I lost my baby. When I told my girlfriend what was going on she asked if he was ok and all I could say was that I didn't know....I only heard the bad stuff. It wasn't until I put the phone back to my ear that I heard the officer repeat what she had said, that Brandon was ok and that he was conscious and talking and was being transported to the hospital.
A million things can race through your mind when confronted with your child going through a health crisis like this. I was told to relax and that he was going to be ok....but the only thing I focused on was the fact that my son could have died today....that he was very close to it and that if it weren't for those wonderful, quick thinking kids....I mean young adults he calls friends, I wouldn't be here telling you that my little boy, the very one that I have worked so hard to protect when he was younger, was now taking his first steps into adulthood by getting his driver's license! That's right! In one week we went from almost losing him to now embracing the big step of gaining that freedom he has worked so hard to get to. That, my friends, is something that generates so many emotions all at once that I literally cannot leave my cubicle at work for fear that someone might see me shed a tear. If things had worked out differently, this day would have been so sad. But it didn't work out that way.
My girlfriend is a very wise woman who I give a lot of credit when it comes to balancing our world. Even though in the beginning I wasn't listening to her when she said "He is all right" and that "he didn't die," today through reflection on the day, I see that I can focus on the positive and that he is all right and that he didn't die. My advice to you is that whenever you do get a "Private name/Private number" popping up on your phone, answer it! It may be the most important call you will ever get!
I want to share a huge milestone with you. Those of you that have followed me know I have been on a journey of self improvement. My journey started 6 years ago when I decided I wanted to be an actor and become more involved in my local film industry. Last year we were in a contest with a film project called Patient 62. We left the contest early and went out on our own to film it last fall. I am happy to announce that we are now closer to having the movie ready to show to all of you! We just released a teaser trailer and I am proud to say that we now have over 7,000 views! I will leave the link below for you to enjoy. Please share it with your peeps and Tweeps. We would love to hear your impressions so please leave a comment as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM3g1mmUnkI
Before I leave you today, I wanted to give you something to mull over. Its very mind boggling to think that since my last blog post on Oct 6th of 2015, there have been 206 mass shootings in the US that had four or more victims injured or dead. Since January of 2016 there have been 141 mass shootings in the U.S. involving four or more people with 5 of those happening since the Orlando incident. There needs to be a dialog and affirmative action taken on why there are so many guns available in the US. And oh yeah, please don't vote for Donald Trump.
Have a great day everyone! I will have more to post in the coming weeks so please come back!
Note: Mass shooting statistics were taken from the gun violence archive at http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shootings/2015?page=1
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